Guide For Applicants

GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS
INTERREG V-A ROMANIA-HUNGARY

PROGRAMME
OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Partnership for a better future

www.interreg-rohu.eu
December 2016
Dear Applicant!
As indicated in the title, this document provides information and guidance regarding the
rules and procedures to be observed by applicants when planning their projects and stresses
out the main elements the applicants shall be aware of when dealing with a cross-border
project. However, it does not replace other documents. Applicants are invited to carefully
read the documents listed in the application package, in order to be able to prepare their
applications in compliance with the rules governing this Programme, including relevant
community and national legislation.
Please note that clarifications, errata, amendments/corrigenda may be published on the

Programmes website: www.interreg-rohu.eu.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INFORMATION.................................................................... 4
1.1 OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME ..................................................................... 4
1.2 PROGRAMME STRATEGY ..................................................................................... 4
1.2.1 PRIORITY AXES, INVESTMENT PRIORITIES, AND THEIR SPECIFIC
OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................. 5
1.2.2 PROGRAMME INDICATORS ............................................................................ 6
1.2.3 HORIZONTAL PRINCIPLES ............................................................................. 9
1.3 PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION STRUCTURE ............................................ 11
1.4 FINANCIAL ALLOCATION FOR THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS ...................... 12
1.5 REVENUE GENERATING PROJECTS ................................................................ 13
CHAPTER 2. RULES OF THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS........................................... 16
2.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE CALL ............................................................................. 16
2.2 CONDITIONS AND CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF PROJECTS ................. 18
2.2.1 GENERAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA ............................................................... 18
2.2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants .......................................................................................................................................... 19
2.2.1.2 Eligibility of actions (projects) .......................................................................................................................... 23
2.2.1.3 Eligibility of costs/expenditure ......................................................................................................................... 27
CHAPTER 3. HOW TO APPLY ................................................................................... 31
3.1 PROCESS OVERVIEW ......................................................................................... 31
3.2 LIST OF MANDATORY ANNEXES TO THE APPLICATION FORM ................ 33
CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT AND SELECTION OF APPLICATIONS .................... 38
4.1 ASSESSMENT OF THE PROJECT PROPOSALS ............................................... 38
4.2 SELECTION OF APPLICATIONS ....................................................................... 41
4.3 COMPLAINTS ....................................................................................................... 43
CHAPTER 5. CONTRACTING .................................................................................... 46
5.1 PRE-CONTRACTUAL CONDITIONS ............................................................. 46
5.2 CONTRACTING ................................................................................................ 47
5.3 OVER-CONTRACTING .................................................................................... 47
6. ANNEXES ................................................................................................................. 49
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CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INFORMATION
The current guide applies to the preparation of projects to be submitted under

this Open Call for proposals, within the Interreg V-A RomaniaHungary
Programme. It is intended to help the applicant to prepare the content of the
project proposal.
This guide provides information on how to fill in the application, budget and related forms,
the application procedure, the project selection criteria, the decision procedure and other
practical advices. It is the most practical level of documentation needed for the successful
submission of a project under this programme.
This Open Call for proposals concerns only the following Priority Axes:
PA 1 (Investment priorities 6/b, 6/c) and PA 5 (Investment priority 5/b.
1.1 Overview of the programme
The programme is financed by the European Union through the European Regional
Development Fund and co-financed by Romania and Hungary through contributions from
state budget and own contribution from project beneficiaries.
The programming document (hereinafter referred to as Cooperation Programme) drafted
jointly by the two countries through a wide partnership with national, regional and local
stakeholders, was approved by the European Commission on 9th of December 2015. It sets
out the general framework of intervention of ERDF in the Romania Hungary cross-border
area.
The programmes eligible area includes 4 counties from Romania (Satu Mare, Bihor, Arad
and Timi) and 4 counties from Hungary (Szabolcs-Szatmr-Bereg, Hajd-Bihar, Bks and
Csongrd).
The Cooperation Programme document and its annexes are available on:
www.interreg-rohu.eu
www.mdrap.ro
https://www.palyazat.gov.hu/palyazati_dokumentaciok1
1.2 Programme strategy
In compliance with the EU regulatory requirements, a set of 6 Thematic Objectives (TO)

were selected by the planning and programming bodies:
1. TO6 Preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency
2. TO7 Promoting sustainable transport and removing bottlenecks in key network
infrastructures
3. TO8 Promoting sustainable and quality employment and supporting labour mobility
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4. TO9 Promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and any discrimination
5. TO5 - Promoting climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management
6. TO11 - Enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and
efficient public administration
The focus of the Programme has also been identified: TO6, TO7, TO8 and TO9.
For further details on the Programme strategy, please refer to the Cooperation Programme
document (including Annexes).
1.2.1 Priority Axes, Investment Priorities, and their Specific Objectives
Priority Axes (PA) are afferent to each Thematic Objective selected for financing during the
programming phase.
Relevant for the present Call are PA1 (Ip6/b, Ip6/c) and PA5 (Ip5/b).
For each PA, Investment priorities (Ip) were selected, each having its Specific Objective
(SO) to attain, as reflected by the table below, highlighting the ones relevant for the present
Call:
Priority axis Investment priority Specific Objective
6/b Investing in the water sector to

meet the requirements of the Unions Improved quality
PA1 - Joint
environmental acquis and to address management of cross-border
protection and
needs, identified by the Member rivers and ground water
efficient use of
States, for investment that goes bodies
common values
beyond those requirements.
and resources
(Cooperating on Sustainable use of
(a) 6/c Conserving, protecting, promoting
common values natural, historic, and
and developing natural and cultural
and resources) cultural heritage within
heritage
the eligible area
7/b Enhancing regional mobility through Improved cross-border
connecting secondary and tertiary nodes to accessibility through connecting
TEN-T infrastructure, including multimodal secondary and tertiary nodes to
PA2 - Improve nodes TEN-T infrastructure
sustainable cross-
border mobility and 7/c Developing and improving environment-
remove bottlenecks friendly (including low-noise), and low-
Increased proportion of
(Cooperating on carbon transport systems including inland
passengers using sustainable
accessibility) waterways and maritime transport, ports,
low carbon, low noise forms of
multimodal links and airport infrastructure,
cross-border transport
in order to promote sustainable regional and
local mobility
PA3 - Improve 8/b Supporting employment-friendly growth
employment and through the development of endogenous
promote cross- potential as part of a territorial strategy for
Increased employment within the
border labour specific areas, including the conversion of
eligible area
mobility declining industrial regions and enhancement
(Cooperating on of accessibility to, and development of,
employment) specific natural and cultural resources
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Priority axis Investment priority Specific Objective
9/a Investing in health and social

infrastructure which contributes to national,
PA4 - Improving
regional and local development, reducing
health-care services Improved preventive and curative
inequalities in terms of health status,
(Cooperating on health-care services across the
promoting social inclusion through improved
health-care and eligible area
access to social, cultural and recreational
prevention)
services and transition from institutional to
community-based services
PA5 - Improve
risk-prevention
and disaster 5/b Promoting investment to address
Improved cross-border
management specific risks, ensuring disaster
disasters and risk
(Cooperating on resilience and developing disaster
management
risk prevention management systems
and disaster
management)
PA6 - Promoting
cross-border
11/b Enhancing institutional capacity of
cooperation
public authorities and stakeholders and
between Intensify sustainable cross-
efficient public administration by
institutions and border cooperation of
promoting legal and administrative
citizens institutions and communities
cooperation and cooperation between
(Cooperation of
citizens and institutions
institutions and
communities)
Only State Aid free projects will be selected within the present call, therefore, for Ip:
6/b project proposals will not budget activities that may have economic character,
i.e. irrigations, measures against historical pollution (Polluter pays principle is respected);
please see the relevant fact sheet.
6/c only project proposals that address conserving, protecting, promoting and
developing natural heritage will be financed.
For further details please refer to the Cooperation Programme document (including
Annexes).
1.2.2 Programme indicators
Programme level indicators are set per specific objective, thus, are directly linked to the
Investment priority. For each SO, a result indicator has been set, and then, one or two
output indicators, which lead to achieving the expected result.
The indicator matrix at programme level, highlighting the ones relevant for this Call, reads
as follows:
Investment
Result indicator Output indicator
priority
Water quality (ecological Number of measurement points
Ip 6/b condition) of cross-border rivers positively affected by the
at the measurement points in interventions (after the
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the eligible area completion of the project)
Increase in expected number of
visits to supported sites of
cultural and natural heritage and
Tourist overnight stays in the
Ip 6/c attractions
eligible programme area
Surface area of habitats
supported to attain a better
conservation status
Total length of newly built roads
Cross-border population served by
Ip 7/b modernized infrastructure leading to
Total length of reconstructed or
TEN-T
upgraded roads
Number of cross-border public
transport services developed /
Ratio of people to motorized road
Ip 7/c improved
vehicles crossing the border
Total length of newly built bicycle
road
Employment rate in the eligible area Number of participants in joint local
Ip 8/b as a percentage of the working age employment initiatives and joint
population training
Population having access to improved
Average service level in health care health services
Ip 9/a
institutions in the eligible area Number of health-care departments
affected by modernized equipment
Quality of the joint risk Population safeguarded by
Ip 5/b improved emergency response
management
services
Number of institutions directly
involved in cross-border cooperation
Intensity level of cross-border initiatives
Ip 11/b
cooperation Number of people participating in
cross-border cooperation initiatives
Please bear in mind that for the present Call only Ip 6/b, 6/c and 5/b are
relevant, and applications can solely be submitted under these Ips.
Please refer to the relevant Fact-Sheet in Annex I of the present Guide for
detailed information on the Programme indicators per each Investment priority
that are relevant for this Call.
Nevertheless, the focus in the 2014-2020 programming period is on the results. The
Programme results are measured by indicators. The Performance framework is one of
the tools to achieve a result-orientation of the ESI Funds. It is a table in which a set of
milestones and targets is defined for each priority in the programme.
The achievement of milestones will be assessed by the European Commission in 2019 and in
case of failure, it could lead to the suspension of payments. The achievements of final
targets will be assessed in 2024 and might form the basis of financial corrections.
Indicators measure whether the project has achieved its objectives or not. In this respect,
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each project must contribute to the achieving of the programme indicators (both
output and result indicators). The choice of appropriate indicators and the way your
project contributes to the Programme results is important for the project and its selection by
the Monitoring Committee.
Therefore, result oriented projects, with tangible results and with high impact on
the eligible area shall be selected.
In addition, the environmental indicators set during the Strategic Environmental
Assessment procedure for the Programme are to be taken into account.
Relevant for this Call are the followings:
Monitoring indicators (that result from the relevant
Environmental issue
environmental objective)
Surface area of habitats supported in order to attain a
better conservation status
Biodiversity, flora, fauna, NATURA

2000
I1: Number of actions which have impact on
habitats in the eligible area
I2: Number of actions which have impact on

NATURA 2000 sites in the eligible area
Water quality (ecological condition) of cross- border
rivers at the measurement points in the eligible area
Number of measurement points positively affected by the
Water (surface waters, ground interventions (after the completion of the project
waters) Quality of the joint risk management
I3: Number of actions impacting the elimination of

pollution sources in the eligible area
I4: Number of actions having an impact on
Soil and land use
landscape and soil in the eligible area
R3: Number of people benefitting from flood

protection measures in the eligible area
Air and fighting climate change
Tourist overnight stays in the eligible programme area
Landscape
I6: Number of actions contributing to the
rehabilitated land in the eligible area 1
* The programmes specific output indicators are marked with italic. The additional SEA
environmental indicators are marked with bold type letters.
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The first group of indicators (I1- I6) represents project level data and should be monitored annually, the
second (R3) should be evaluated in the midterm and at the end of the programming period.
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Please refer to Annex II of the present Guide for the Performance Framework
and Environmental Indicators for the Programme.
For further details on programme indicators and performance framework please refer to the
programming document (including Annexes).
1.2.3 Horizontal Principles
Horizontal principles refer to priorities agreed by the Member States of the European
Union, which are embedded in various forms in all the EU policies. The horizontal principles
are referring mainly to sustainable development and energy efficiency, equal opportunities
and non-discrimination, including equality between men and women.
The following horizontal principles shall be observed by all applicants in the development
and implementation of their projects:
1. Sustainable development development process that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The environmental protection is an integrated part of the development process. In
designing and implementing the project, the applicants should aim at a balanced use of
resources, appropriate choice of logistics and raising public awareness on sustainable
development issues (e.g. by inserting messages on printed materials or in the e-mails).
In addition, challenges brought by the climate change shall be duly taken into
account. Climate change - a great concern at global and EU level should be another
key element of which the applicants should be aware of. The main factors contributing
to climate change are greenhouse gases deployed in the atmosphere from energy and
non-energy sources. Projects should at least avoid making use of such sources, and
additionally support the fight against climate change.
Special attention on the above is needed under PA1 and PA5.
In order to ensure sustainable development, the followings will be used as general guiding
principles:
Due attention will be paid to the environmental protection requirements, climate
change mitigation and adaptation.
In case of investments negatively affecting nature, fauna and flora, and biodiversity,
only projects in which investments are accompanied by compensatory measures and
damage mitigation should be selected.
In addition, wherever relevant, in the case of investment projects the following
requirements will be considered:
o for projects involving purchasing of goods, those goods should comply with
the energy efficiency requirements set out in Annex III of the Energy
Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU) in case of goods subject to public
procurement;
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o if a project involves building, construction and renovation works, it is required
to prove cost-optimal levels of energy performance according to Directive
2010/31/EU.
Equal opportunities and non-discrimination - a fundamental right, ensuring the
access of every person, on freely and equally basis, in the areas of public life such as in
the workplace, in education, or in accessing goods and services. Equal opportunities
refer to preventing any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or
belief, disability, age or sexual orientation or on any other similar criterion. This also
includes Equality between men and women, specified below.
Equality between men and women The projects will have to apply the gender
mainstreaming and promote the fundamental rights, non-discrimination and equal
opportunities in their activities. The projects shall promote equal opportunities for all in
order to tackle the barriers faced by minorities, the disabled, and other vulnerable
groups.
In order to ensure equal opportunities and non-discrimination, at least the followings will be
taken into account:
Only those projects could be selected, which are non-discriminatory and transparent
and take into account gender equality and non-discrimination principles.
In projects, where it is feasible, preference may be given on the social inclusion of
people living in deep poverty.
During the elaboration of the project proposal, the principles of transparency,

equal treatment, non-discrimination, national integrity and sustainable
development shall be taken into account.
Therefore, while elaborating your projects, please have in view the followings:
The inclusion of relevant indicators related to the profile of persons involved in the
projects, e.g. on gender, ethnic origin, age, occupation and education level,
disabilities, etc.;
The evaluation of actions for the involvement of potentially discriminated groups in
project implementation, e.g. related to flexible working arrangements, deputy
arrangements, provisions for persons with disabilities, etc.;
Consideration of the different needs and intended and unintended impact of the
project on different groups, e.g. vulnerable population with disabilities, returning and
internal migrants, etc.;
Consideration of equal opportunities and non-discrimination in project
implementation, e.g. concerning the establishment of an Equal Opportunities Action
Plan, definition of equal opportunity targets, provision of equal opportunities training
or diversity management courses, provision of supporting services;
Provisions for an equal access to the projects outputs and benefits for all members
of the society;
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Consideration of the different starting positions of the target groups based on gender
(existence and extent of differences between women and men and the implications
of these differences for the specific policy area etc.) and intended and unintended
impact of the operation project on those groups in the project concept;
Consideration of equality between men and women in project implementation, e.g.
through inclusion of gender mainstreaming provisions, concerning the special needs
and circumstances of men and women employees, introducing flexible, individual
arrangements for female employees including childcare, information about these
provisions in advertisements for job opportunities.
Please be informed that the observance of the horizontal principles shall be
taken into account during projects assessment. Projects which propose explicit
measures with positive impact on one or more of them, even in terms of raising
public awareness, shall be awarded additional points.
However, accomplishing the minimum requirements of law in the fields of promotion of

equal opportunities and non-discrimination, equality between men and women and
sustainable development is mandatory and will not be extra scored.
For further information please refer to the Cooperation Programmes document.
1.3 Programme implementation structure
According to the EU Regulations, the two partner states in the programme - Romania and
Hungary - have established a number of bodies forming the implementation and monitoring
mechanism of the programme. The most relevant bodies for the potential beneficiaries are:
Managing Authority (MA) the Romanian Ministry of Regional Development and Public
Administration - is responsible for managing and implementing the operational programme
in accordance with EC Regulations and the principles of sound financial management. The
Managing Authority signs the ERDF subsidy contracts with the Lead Beneficiaries as well as
the co-financing contracts with the Romanian project beneficiaries (for the co-financing
granted from the Romanian state budget). The Managing Authority took over the role of
certifying the expenditures (role of Certifying Authority).
National Authority (NA) - the Prime Minister Office from Hungary is the counterpart of
the Managing Authority and will sign the co-financing contracts with the Hungarian project
beneficiaries (for the co-financing granted from the Hungarian state budget).
Monitoring Committee (MC) is formed of representatives at national, regional and local
level from both countries, supervises the programme and selects the projects.
Joint Secretariat (JS) is based within the Cross Border Cooperation Regional Office
Oradea for Romania-Hungary Border - BRECO, situated in Oradea (Romania). It assists the
Managing Authority and the Monitoring Committee in carrying out their respective duties
and is the main contact point between the programme and the potential/project
beneficiaries.
Info Points (IPs) are established in Hungary, in each of the 4 eligible counties, carrying
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out activities related to information and monitoring and having as main role to serve as local
contact point for potential/project beneficiaries from Hungary.
For further details on programme implementation structure please refer to the Cooperation
Programme.
1.4 Financial Allocation for the Call for Proposals
The total budget of the programme for the entire 7-year programming period is of
231,861,763.00, of which 189,138,672.00 is represented by EU contribution through the
European Regional Development Fund. The remaining 42,723,091.00 are national
contributions from state budgets and project beneficiaries.
The total amount allocated for this Open Call for proposals for the three Investment
Priorities, including national public and private funding, is of 26,606,865.00 2 , broken
down as follows:
Investment Community Funding National
Total funding
Priorities ERDF (a) counterpart*
(a) (b) (a)+(b)
PA 1 - Ip 6/b 7,000,000.00 1,235,294.00 8,235,294.00
PA 1 - Ip 6/c 7,500,000.00 1,323,529,00 8,823,529.00
PA 5 Ip 5/b 8,115,835.00 1,432,207.00 9,548,042.00
Total
22,615,835.00 3,991,030.00 26,606,865.00
* Includes the contributions from Romanian and Hungarian state budgets and local / private budgets
from both countries, respectively, expected own contribution.
The above allocation is based on the followings:

The rate of ERDF financing within a project is maximum 85% of the total eligible
project budget.
The rate of national state budget co-financing is maximum 13% of the total eligible
budget for Romanian beneficiaries, other than Central Public Authorities that are
financed through the Romanian state budget, and maximum 10% for Hungarian
beneficiaries, except bodies that are financed from the Hungarian state budget,
where the maximum rate of national co-financing is 15% of their total eligible project
2
Estimated based on the financing plan of the Cooperation Programme.
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budget.
Please note that an advance payment of the Romanian national co-financing may be
granted to Romanian beneficiaries for their part of the budget, in a percentage
according to national legislation; for the Hungarian beneficiaries, an advance
payment of maximum 100% of the Hungarian national co-financing may be granted
for their part of the budget.
Each Beneficiary has to bring an own contribution to the project, that shall be
minimum 2 % in case of Romanian Beneficiaries, other than Central Public
Authorities for which the contribution is fully ensured by the Romanian state budget,
and 5 % in case of Hungarian Beneficiaries other than Central Budgetary Organs in
Hungary who do not need to provide own contribution.
Each Project Beneficiary has to ensure the financial resources necessary for the
implementation of the project until the reimbursement of ERDF funds.
The following table reflects an allocation scenario at project potential beneficiary level,
based on financing sources:
Hungarian
Romanian Hungarian
Beneficiaries
Romanian Beneficiaries Central
Financing other than
Central Public other than Budgetary
sources Central
Authorities Central Public Organs as
Budgetary
Authorities Beneficiaries
Organs
ERDF Max. 85% Max. 85% Max. 85% Max. 85%
But not more than 2,550,000.00 / project
State Max. 13% Max. 15% Max. 10%
contribution
But not more But not more
But not more than
than than
Min. 15% 15.2941% from
17.6470% from 11.7647% from
ERDF
ERDF ERDF
Own
Min. 2% Min. 0% Min.5%
contribution
Major projects, as defined by Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, article 100, are not supported
under this Call. Thus, even there is no limitation regarding the own contribution, the
maximum total project budget (ERDF + State Contribution + Own Contribution)
for one project cannot exceed 50,000,000.00.
1.5 Revenue Generating Projects
Revenue generating projects may be financed under the present Call for proposals.
However, it must be kept in mind that the goals of Interreg V-A Romania Hungary
Programme relate to general public interests and well-being, thus envisaging and strongly
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encouraging not for-profit projects and activities.
The EU Regulations applicable to 2014-2020 period do not provide for a definition of

"revenue" as only "net revenue" needs to be taken into account for the calculation of
eligible expenditure.
Net-revenues are not eligible.
According to Article 61 CPR (EU Regulation No. 1303/2013) net revenue means cash in-
flows directly paid by users for the goods and services provided by the operation,
such as charges borne directly by the users for the use of infrastructure, sale or rent of land
or buildings, or payments for services less any operating costs and replacement costs
of short-life equipment incurred during the corresponding period.
This means that operating costs and replacement costs of short-life equipment (as referred
to in Article 17 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 480/2014) decrease the net
revenue in case the revenue remains unchanged.
In addition, operating cost-savings generated by the project shall be treated as net revenue
(except where the operation cost-savings are the only source of revenue for the operation).
The eligible expenditure of the operation shall be reduced taking into account the expected
net revenue by applying one of the methods set out in Article 61(3) (or alternatively Article
61(5)) of CPR, as complemented by Articles 15 and 16 of the above-mentioned CDR.
Eligible expenditure on revenue-generating projects shall not exceed the current

value of the investment cost less the current value of the net revenue from the
investment over a specific reference period for:
(a) investments in infrastructure; or
(b) other projects where it is possible to objectively estimate the revenues in

advance.
The net revenue generated during implementation of the project, resulting from sources of
revenue not taken into account in determining the potential net revenue of the project, shall
be deducted from the eligible expenditure of the project, no later than in the final payment
claim submitted by the beneficiary.
Where it is objectively not possible to determine the revenue in advance, the net revenue
generated within three years of the completion of a project, or by the deadline for the
submission of documents for programme closure, whichever is earlier, shall be refunded to
the MA and/or to NA according to the ERDF and national state budget contributions.
The implementation of the provisions mentioned above is done by the following measures:
In the application form, the applicants shall mention if their project is revenue
generating.
Whereas the projects budget annexed to the Application Form shall not include
the net revenue, net revenue shall be mentioned however, as potential, in the
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Application Form. The budget template provided in e-MS allows the applicants to
fill in such information.
In the implementation phase, a monitoring of the generated revenues shall be done

throughout the implementation period of the project or for the next 3 years following
the completion of the project.
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CHAPTER 2. RULES OF THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS
2.1 Description of the Call
This is an Open Call for proposals, designed in one step procedure and dedicated to the
applicants who address common challenges and exploit common potentials through various
types of joint initiatives, joint projects and joint actions.
The financing under the Interreg V-A Romania Hungary Programme shall be made
available to potential beneficiaries through a transparent and competitive process.
The present Call for proposals has the goal of establishing solid partnerships in the eligible
area by financing both soft projects (as small-scale cooperation initiatives of communities,
civil organizations and institutions in the fields of culture, sports, youth and other leisure
activities etc.) and hard projects (projects involving investments with a concrete impact to
the cross-border area).
The present Call is designed based on the following main features:
The Investment priorities3 in the frame of which project proposals are expected, are
presented in Chapter I. and were identified already in the planning phase and stated
within the approved CP.
The implementation period and the total amount of the ERDF contribution for a
project, ranging between minimum and maximum limits, are differentiated by Ips, as
follows:
Total ERDF
funds/project Project duration4
Investment priority
(months)
(Eur)
6/b Investing in the water sector to meet
the requirements of the Unions
environmental acquis and to address needs,
425,000-2,550,000 12-30
identified by the Member States, for
investment that goes beyond those
requirements.
6/c Conserving, protecting, promoting and

425,000-2,550,000 12-30
developing natural heritage
5/b Promoting investments to address

specific risks, ensuring disaster resilience
170,000-2,550,000 12-30
and developing disaster management
systems.
The maximum limits for ERDF and the State Contribution are presented in chapter 1.4.
3
Please see specifics of each Investment priority in the related Fact Sheets.
4
As presented in the Application Form
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Financial Allocation for the Call for Proposals. There is no limitation regarding the own
contribution.
The projects must have direct CBC impact, which shall be understood in terms of proving
that at least 3 of the cooperation criteria are fulfilled 5 : joint development, joint
implementation, joint financing and joint staffing.
Partnerships involving strong commitment and contributions (observing the joint
development, joint implementation, joint staffing and joint financing criteria)
from all partners will be scored with maximum points!
The following scheme is a chronological demonstration of the main milestones:

Phase Estimated Explanation
Duration/Date
Launching the Call for Open competitive Call, designed in one step
3 months
Proposals procedure.
Deadline for submitting Project Proposals will be submitted via the
24th April 2017
Project Proposals electronic system eMS, by the Lead Applicant.
Best Project Proposals will be selected for
Assessment and
financing and implementation. Notifications on
selection of Project 3 months
approval of Project Proposal are sent out to
Proposals
the Lead Applicants.
For the selected Project Proposals, documents
Contracting 2 months will be required in order to sign subsidy and
national co-financing contracts.
Maximum 3 months The applicants will have to prove the
Contracting under after the compliance with the formulated conditions in
conditions Notification for maximum 3 months after the Notification for
approval approval
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Joint development means that the project must be designed in common by partners from both sides of the
border. This means that project proposals must clearly integrate the ideas, priorities and actions of stakeholders
on both sides of the border. The Lead Beneficiary is the coordinator of this process but should include other
partners from the beginning of the development process;
Joint implementation means that activities must be carried out and coordinated among partners on both sides
of the border. It is not enough that activities run in parallel. There must be clear content-based links between
what is happening on either side of the border and regular contact between the two sides. The Lead Beneficiary
is responsible for ensuring that activities are properly coordinated, that schedules are kept and that the right
quality levels are achieved;
Joint staffing means that the project should not duplicate functions on either side of the border. Therefore,
regardless of where the person is located, there should be one joint project manager, one joint financial manager
etc., (of course more staff may be required for larger projects). These staff will be responsible for project
activities on both sides of the border. The Lead Beneficiary is generally the employer of core project staff;
Joint financing means that there will be only one contract per project and therefore there must be one joint
project budget. The budget should be divided between partners according to the activities carried out. A project
with 0 Euro or very small financing from one side of the border cannot be considered as having joint financing.
There is also only one project bank account for the ERDF contribution (held by the Lead Beneficiary) and
payments representing EU support are made from the programme to this account. The Lead Beneficiary is
responsible for administration and distribution of these funds and for reporting on their use. Match-funding
should come from both sides of the border and illustrates the commitment by each partner to the joint project.
17
Phase Estimated Explanation
Duration/Date
Implementation of the The implementation of the project may start
12-30 months
project on the date of the Notification for approval. 6
The achievement of the output indicators, as established for each of the priority
axes MUST be fulfilled through the supported projects, proving proportionality
between the estimated necessary costs and the targeted values of indicators!
Please see further details in the dedicated FACT-SHEETS, annexed to the

present Guide.
Please keep in mind that all necessary information regarding the priority axes and the
related specific objectives, as well as the output indicators and the estimated ERDF
allocation of funds on each category of intervention are available also in the Cooperation
Programme (CP).
The final version of the document can be accessed at the following links
www.interreg-rohu.eu,
www.mdrap.ro,
www.brecoradea.ro,
www.palyazat.gov.hu/palyazati_dokumentaciok1
2.2 Conditions and criteria for selection of projects
2.2.1 General eligibility criteria
The submission of projects is open to all potential beneficiaries and projects that meet the
eligibility criteria set-out below. These eligibility criteria shall apply for the entire programme
duration.
The specificities and detailed criteria for the selection of projects are presented further on,
and in the dedicated FACT-SHEETS (Annex I).
Nevertheless, there are a number of important general principles that need to be reflected in
the selection criteria under all Investment priorities. These include:
respecting the principle of sustainability, justified demand for the new capacities
created;
cost-efficiency of the supported actions;
clearly justified contribution to the SO of the relevant Ip;
6
This is without prejudice to the eligibility of preparation costs, if the project is selected and contracted.
18
preventing programme level double-financing of projects/operations (examples
may include institutional development, road development, water management);
creating added value;
clear cross-border impact, synergies of the interventions;
respecting the horizontal principles, i.e. sustainable development, non-
discriminations and equal opportunities, where relevant.
The eligibility criteria, with regard to the assessment and selection of projects are related to
the potential applicants, actions (activities/operations) and costs. General eligibility criteria,
mandatory for all projects regardless the priority axis they are submitted under, are the
following:
eligibility of the applicants;
eligibility of the actions (activities/operations);
eligibility of the costs/expenditures.
2.2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants
In the framework of the present programme only legal entities, as identified below, can
apply for financing and become Lead Beneficiaries or Beneficiaries, who are established
based on the relevant national public or private law and act in the purpose of public benefit.
Natural persons cannot apply for funding.
Political parties/organisations are not eligible! Private bodies, with exception of
NGOs are not eligible!
Important!!!
1. All projects must have at least one Project Applicant on the other side of the border7,
which must fulfil the same eligibility criteria.
2. The maximum number of Project Applicants in one project is 6 (six), advisable 3
(three). Not complying with this provision will lead to the rejection of applications.
3. It is expected that when a partnership is designed, only partners who can make an
important and real contribution in achieving the proposed indicators will be invited in
the partnership.
4. The (Lead) Applicant must have legal competencies in the project relevant field. For
all projects, it is compulsory that the applicant has among its attributions, according
to their statute or according to the national legislation, the implementation of the
proposed activities or it must prove that it has a partnership agreement with the
institutions, competent to implement such activities, according to their statute or
according to the national legislation.
5. The applicants must prove stable and sufficient financial resources to ensure the
continuity of their organization throughout the duration of project and to play part in
financing it.
7
For EGTC, please see item 8, below.
19
6. The applicants must demonstrate that they have not received financing support from
public funds in the past 5 years before the deadline for submitting the applications
under this Call for proposals for the same operation / project in terms of objectives,
activities and results.
7. All applicants involved in the project have to prove their professional, operational /
administrative and financial capacity to manage their share of activities in the field of
action they are applying for and must have direct responsibility for the preparation
and management of the proposed actions both from a professional and from a
financial point of view, not acting as intermediaries.
8. The Project Applicants have to be entities falling into one of the following
categories:
a. Public bodies;
b. Public equivalent bodies, governed by public law;
A body governed by public law means a body:
Established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general

interest, not having an industrial or commercial character;
Having legal personality, and
Financed, for the most part, by the State, regional or local authorities,
or other bodies governed by public law; or subject to management
supervision by those bodies; or having an administrative, managerial
or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are
appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other
bodies governed by public law.
c. State owned companies
d. Non-profit bodies: non-profit legal body established under the private or public
law, acting in the general public interest.
e. European Groupings for Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) introduced by Regulation

(EC) 1082/2006, as further amended and complemented by EC Regulation
1302/2013, and established according to the national legislation of Romania and
Hungary are considered eligible in case they satisfy the eligibility criteria
applicable for each applicant, excluding the necessity to have a cross border
partner.
EGTCs have to meet the following criteria:
To be established by legal persons governed by public or private law

having their seat on the territory of Romania or Hungary;
To have its seat located in the eligible Programme area;
To have incorporated in its statute as objective and field of activity the
contribution to the development of the Romania - Hungary cross-
border programme area, and references to the field to be addressed
by the proposed project.
20
In order to be eligible, in terms of location, the applicants must have their seats or a
regional/local branch registered in the eligible programme area: Satu Mare, Bihor, Arad and
Timi counties in Romania, and SzabolcsSzatmrBereg, Hajd-Bihar, Bks and Csongrd
counties in Hungary.
In case the entitys headquarter is registered outside the eligible programme area, but there
is a regional/local branch office with a legal entity in the eligible programme area, then
the regional/local branch shall apply for financing and in case of contracting, it shall be the
beneficiary. The regional / local branch office needs to prove its existence and the relation
with headquarter.
Exceptions are also possible in the case of public entities not having their legal seat in
the eligible area, but having legal competencies for implementing operations in the
programme area.
Two situations are identified:
1) In case the public entity's headquarter is registered outside the eligible programme area
and its branch office is not a legal entity, the respective public entity may apply and, in case
of contracting, it shall be the beneficiary. In this special case, the legal representative of the
main entity shall nominate the person responsible for acting in the scope of the project
implementation and the regional / local branch office needs to prove its existence and the
relation with headquarter.
2) In case the public entity's headquarter is registered outside the eligible programme area
without a branch office in the eligible area, the respective public entity may apply8.
Due to management and financial capacity needs, one applicant will be selected
as Lead Beneficiary in maximum 3 projects and in total in 6 projects, in the
context of Interreg V-A Romania-Hungary Programme.
Potential applicants shall be excluded from participation in the present Call for
proposals if:
they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered
by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have
suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning
those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar
procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;
they, or persons having powers of representation, decision making or control
over them, have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional
conduct by a judgment of a competent authority of a Member State which
has the force of res judicata;
they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means
which the contracting authority can justify, including by decisions of the
European Investment Bank and international organizations;
8
Central authorities with competencies in the eligible area are eligible applicants and may implement projects in
the Programme area.
21
they are not in compliance with their obligations relating to the payment of
social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the
legal provisions of the country in which they are established or with those of
the country of the contracting authority or those of the country where the
contract is to be performed;
they, or persons having powers of representation, decision making or control
over them, have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res
judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organization, money
laundering or any other illegal activity, where such illegal activity is
detrimental to the Union's financial interests;
they are subject to an administrative penalty referred to in Article 1 (16) of
the Regulation (EU, EURATOM) 1929/2015, amending Regulation 966/2012
on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union.
Applicants are also excluded from participation in Calls for proposals or the
award of financial support if, at the time of the Call for proposals, they:
are subject to a conflict of interests; the conflict of interests represents any
circumstances that may affect the assessment or implementation process, in
an objective and impartial manner. Such circumstances may result from
economic interests, political or national preferences or family connections.
are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the
Managing Authority/ Joint Secretariat as a condition of participation in the call
for proposals or fail to supply this information which might have led to a
different decision of the evaluators/ Managing Authority during the
assessment process;
have attempted to obtain confidential information or influence the
assessment bodies or the Managing Authority during the assessment process
of current or previous Calls for proposals.
In the cases referred above, the exclusion applies for a maximum period of ten years, from
the time when the infringement is established or from the date of notification of the
judgment.
In the signed Project (Lead) Beneficiary Declaration included in the application pack,
applicants must declare that they do not fall into any of the above mentioned categories.
The Managing Authority or the Joint Secretariat may request, during the
assessment of project proposals or in the phase of contracting, additional
documentary evidence and argumentations regarding the eligibility of applicants!
The specific types of potential beneficiaries for each Ip are listed in the dedicated
FACT- SHEET (Annex I).
22
2.2.1.2 Eligibility of actions (projects)
This is an Open call, seeking to support projects that must be in line with one of the
indicative actions from an Investment priority under a Priority axis (PA1-Ip6/b and Ip6/c
and PA5 (Ip 5/b)) as described in Chapter I. of the GfA.
As defined in Art. 107 para. (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of European
Union, a measure is considered state aid if it meets, on cumulative bases, all of
the following criteria:
1. the beneficiary is an undertaking (is engaged in economic activity)
2. the measure is financed from the state budget or is imputable to the state
3. the measure confers an advantage to the beneficiary
4. the measure is selective
5. the measure effects the trade and competition between the Member states
within the Union.
The measures under the Investment Prorities 5/b, 6/b and 6/c do not constitute
State aid as at least one of the above-mentioned criteria are not met.
Also, in the COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION on the notion of State aid pursuant
to Article 107(1) TFEU, the paragraph 18 of the respective document states that:
a) Activities that intrinsically form part of the prerogatives of official authority and are
performed by the State do not constitute economic activities.
b) It follows from the case-law that Article 107 TFEU does not apply where the State acts
by exercising public power or where public entities act in their capacity as public
authorities. An entity may be deemed to act by exercising public powers where the activity
in question is a task that forms part of the essential functions of the State or is connected
with those functions by its nature, its aim and the rules to which it is subject.
When designing your project, please take into account the following common
rules:
1. The project will ensure a relevant contribution to the Programme objectives,
addressing the needs and development challenges identified in the eligible area.
2. Its preferable that projects contribute to a wider strategy on one or more policy
levels (EU / national / regional / county) contingency; to be in synergy with other
key interventions.
3. It is recommended that a project is based on a strong and balanced partnership on
the two sides of the border.
4. The projects must provide added-value on activities already implemented in the
field or represents the beginning of activities that will be undertaken on a long
term.
23
5. The projects should make a positive contribution to the programme horizontal
principles: equal opportunities and non-discrimination, equality between men and
women, sustainable development, access for disabled persons.
6. All projects should demonstrate their contribution to the objectives of the EUSDR9
strategy.
7. The activities have to be implemented in the Programme eligible area, respectively
on the territory of the following 8 counties: Satu Mare, Bihor, Arad and Timi from
Romania; Szabolcs-Szatmr-Bereg, Hajd-Bihar, Bks and Csongrd from
Hungary. Exceptions from this rule apply for activities implemented outside the
eligible area, with a significant importance and impact on the Programme area,
directly implemented for the benefit of the Programme area. The total costs
incurred outside of the eligible area (related to any activity or any category of
expenditure) shall be limited to 10% of the support from the ERDF at project level.
Nonetheless, please bear in mind that no investment in equipment or
infrastructure, be that endowment or works, shall be placed outside the
eligible area!
8. The importance of the cross-border approach to the topic addressed should be

clearly demonstrated. In this matter, at least 3 (from 4) cooperation criteria shall
be fulfilled: joint development, joint implementation, joint staffing and joint
financing.
9. The quality of the project proposals, as reflected in their compliance with the
selection criteria, is very important in order to ensure that the Programme delivers
concrete and visible outputs and results that tackle, in a cross-border and
integrated manner, the challenges and needs affecting the programme area.
Projects focusing solely on research (with no applicable output), or exclusively on
exchange of experience, or projects not indicating the concrete and sustainable
follow-up of soft activities (studies, surveys, action plans etc.) will not be
supported by the Programme.
10. The project must be in line with the Priority axes mentioned in Chapter I. and
results sought, as stipulated in the Interreg V-A Romania - Hungary Programme
(CP). When developing the project proposal, the applicants should keep in mind
the Performance framework of the respective PA and the milestones for 2018. The
applicants demonstrating contribution10 to the achievement of indicators or the key
implementation steps set for 2018, will get higher score in the quality assessment.
9
The EUSDR is a macro-regional strategy adopted by the EC on 08 December 2010 and endorsed by the
European Council on 24 June 2011. The Strategy was developed by the Commission together with the Danube
Region countries and stakeholders in order to address common challenges.
10
Consideration to be given when filling-in the description in the Workplan > Workpackage List)
24
Also, the Project Proposals demonstrating a level of proportionality between the
estimated costs of the project and the output indicators lower than 40% shall
not be recommended for support.
11. In case of projects that involve the elaboration of studies or analyses it is
important that beneficiaries take stock of the knowledge already available and
results from other projects co-financed by European funds across Europe and take
all measures necessary to avoid double-financing. In addition, beneficiaries will be
required to present their plans on capitalizing the results of the project.
Please be aware that under Ip 6/b, studies, workshops, seminars or training,
awareness raising activities & exchange of best practice or similar activities may
not be supported as standalone operations, but only as part of complex projects
contributing to the specific objective.
12. Under Ip 6/c, investment in natural infrastructure will have to be part of a wider,
more complex intervention, including among others: the promotion of the area,
raising the number of visiting tourists, creating job opportunities at local level,
creating/participating to thematic routes, involving the local relevant stakeholders
and thus creating/developing new opportunities of sustainable growth of the
eligible area. No support will be provided to projects envisaging exclusively
investments in natural heritage infrastructure/endowment or marketing activities
& promotional activities, including digital infrastructure.
13. Please be advised that for any type of training, other than those related to the
functioning of the equipment purchased in the context of the project, it is
mandatory to ensure a nondiscriminatory participation of all interested
stakeholders/persons (not only your own staff, but also employees of tertiary
institutions/organisations). The occasions will have to be widely disseminated,
preferably also on the Programme's website and in other relevant publications. The
subject of the training will exclude the minimum required curricula for the
occupations of the persons participating, as regulated by the valid legislation.
Regarding the training support materials, these will have to be published on the
Programme's website as well, either entirely, or at least a coherent summary.
14. For infrastructure investments, the applicants must prove they have the legal right
to perform the project activities in the specific location, through the following
documents which must be provided by the applicant(s):
the legal act (e.g. government decision, law, government ordinance,
decision of local counties, etc.) or contract stating the fact that the
land and/or building/item of infrastructure is in concession/
administration / owned by the applicant;
it must be proved that the land and/ or building/ item of infrastructure
is owned or that the duration of the concession/ administration
contract is for at least 5 years after the estimated month of the
financial closure of the project, and that the owner has given its
written agreement saying that the applicant may perform the
25
infrastructure actions on/ in the relevant land/ building/ item of
infrastructure.
declaration from the land and/or building/ item of infrastructure owner
that the land and/or building/ item of infrastructure is:
free of any encumbrances;
not the object of a pending litigation;
not the object of a claim according to the relevant national
legislation.
In case the land and/or building/item of infrastructure are in concession/
administration, the owner and the concessioner/administrator will provide the
declaration.
documents related to the registration of the land and/or building/ item

of infrastructure in the relevant public registers (Title Deed issued by
the Land Registry).
In compliance with the provisions of art. 65(6) CPR (EU Regulation No.
1303/2013), projects shall not be selected for support where they had been
physically completed or fully implemented before the Project Proposal was
submitted for funding under the Programme, irrespective of whether all related
payments have been made by the beneficiary.
Just as well, in compliance with the approved CP, any newly built cross-border
infrastructure will become operational right after the completion of the project
and shall remain operational for at least 5 years after the financial closure of the
project.
Selection of projects that include cross-border road infrastructure is conditional
to a prior bilateral agreement with the commitment of the Member States to set
up Schengen-compatible border-crossing checkpoints (or other existing solutions
according to the legislation in force at the time of submission of the project
applications) at the completion of any such projects and to operate it for at least
5 years from the financial closure of the respective project or until the
enlargement of the Schengen zone.
When the national legislation requires signature of bilateral agreement in case of

CB infrastructure, for projects financing CB infrastructure other than roads, those
bilateral agreements have to be in force at the time of submission of project
applications.
Please be aware that investments in roads under priority axes other than priority
axis no. 2 cannot be supported as standalone operations; such investments need
to be ancillary to investment in the related field and shall contribute directly to
reaching the selected thematic objective and investment priority under the
specific objective. This means that total cost of such investments in roads cannot
exceed 30% of the total budget of an operation (project).
26
NOTE: The eligibility of an activity does not confer eligibility of the expenditure
made for the implementation of that activity.
The specific types of indicatives actions for each Ip are included in the dedicated
FACT-SHEET (Annex I).
2.2.1.3 Eligibility of costs/expenditure
The general rules for eligibility of expenditure under Interreg V-A Romania-
Hungary Programme are described in the Programme general rules on eligibility

of expenditure11, to be found on the programmes website, www.interreg-rohu.eu.
Expenditures have to be eligible in order to be covered by financial support. Afferent costs
are eligible if they comply with the following general and cumulative conditions:
cost is directly related to the project, is necessary for initiating and carrying
out the operation;
costs must comply with the principles of sound financial management
(principle of efficiency, effectiveness and economy) in particular value for
money and cost-effectiveness;
cost is in line with the provisions of the subsidy contract, co-financing
contracts / national and European legislation;
NOTE: Procurements shall comply with national regulations applicable at the

time of the launch of tendering procedures and, irrespective of the amount or
type of beneficiary, with the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and
equal treatment.
For private eligible beneficiaries there are special requirements in relation to public
procurement procedures, as follows:
In HU, all bodies dealing with EU money have to comply with the national legislation on
public procurement;
In RO, private bodies (NGOs) will have to comply with the special regulations described in
the Project Implementation Manual.
As a general rule the expenditures within this Call for proposal are eligible if:
cost is committed by the beneficiary after submission of the Project Proposal;
expenditures must be incurred after approval by the Monitoring Committee,
but until the last day of the implementation period; costs have to be paid out,
at the latest, in 30 calendar days after the end of the project implementation
period;
11
See Annex III.
27
o exception to this rule is made only for preparation costs, which must be
committed and incurred between 1 January 2014 and the date of the
submission of the Project Proposal; in order to be eligible, preparation costs
must be paid out no later than 60 calendar days after the Project Proposal
approval by the MC.
NOTE: Projects implementation may be started after the approval of the project
by the MC (but this will be on the risk of the applicants)!
Nevertheless, the costs will be eligible only in case the project is finally selected
for financing and subject to the conclusion and execution of the subsidy contract.
all costs incurred must be free from bias and conflict of interest; that is the
case when a decision is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional
life, political or national affinity, or where any economic interest or any other
interest is shared with another person;
cost is borne by the beneficiary, respectively is paid out by the beneficiary
and is recorded in the beneficiaries accounts and tax documents, is
identifiable and verifiable, and is backed up by legal and valid supporting
documents, except for any office and administrative costs that are reported
as a flat-rate cost; cost is verified and validated as eligible by the first level
controllers;
all expenditures must comply with the principle of real costs, with the
exception of the office and administrative expenditures, calculated as flat
rates;
all expenditures relate to activities that have not been financed from other
financial instruments and/or other public funds;
all expenditures are supported by invoices or other documents with
equivalent probative value directly attributable to a certain project partner
with the exception of the costs calculated as flat rates;
NOTE: The Lead Applicant / Project Partner or their employees cannot act as a
contractor or subcontractor that provides works, services and products within
the project.
as a general rule, the eligible expenditures shall be incurred related to

activities implemented in the eligible programme area, respectively on the
territory of the following 8 counties: Satu Mare, Bihor, Arad and Timi from
Romania; Szabolcs-Szatmr-Bereg, Hajd-Bihar, Bks and Csongrd from
Hungary.
28
Exceptions from this rule are made for activities and related expenditures with a significant
importance and impact in the Programme area, directly implemented for the benefit of the
Programme area. Total amount for such activities and expenditures shall be limited to
maximum 10% of the support from the ERDF at project level.
This aspect shall be duly verified during the assessment and selection procedure, thus
presented and accepted in the approved Project Proposal, part of the future subsidy
contract.
The following cost categories, presented in the budget tables as main budgetary lines, are
considered eligible:
a) Staff costs;
b) Office and administrative expenditure;
c) Travel and accommodation costs;
d) External expertise and services costs;
e) Equipment expenditure;
f) Infrastructure and works.
Costs not in compliance with the rules on the eligibility of expenditures are ineligible and
shall be covered from own financial sources, apart from the project budget.
The following table summarises the distinction between cost categories eligible
for the preparation and for the implementation phases:
Eligible expenditures
Preparation costs Implementation costs
Staff -
Office & administrative -
Travel & accommodation
12
External expertise and services
Equipment -
Infrastructure & works
For further information please see Annex III. Programme general rules on
eligibility of expenditure.
Given that some costs can be included in different budget lines (e.g., license fee for the use
of software needed for the project, annual insurances for vehicles purchased and used for
the implementation of project tasks etc.) please read carefully Annex III. Programme
12
Including costs for translation of necessary documents for submission of the Application.
29
general rules on eligibility of expenditures to properly budget the expenditures for
activities.
Additional rules for Preparation costs:
Only costs for mandatory certificates / permits in order to comply with the rules of
the present Call will be eligible preparation costs under Infrastructure and works
budget line ( e.g. urban planning certificate).
In case of already existing Feasibility Studies, the Feasibility Study itself or its
revised version shall be valid according to the national legislation (the document
must bear the date of elaboration/revision). Any other submitted studies, technical
plans, etc. shall also not be older than one year. Multiyear documents, adopted as
such will also be considered.
The rate of the eligible preparation cost shall generally not exceed 5% of the total
eligible project cost.
Additional rules for Management costs:
The management costs (staff costs and/or externalized services for project
management) shall not exceed 10% of total eligible project costs.
When you design the schedule of spending forecast, pay attention to the provisions of the
Subsidy Contract, where is mentioned that in case of under spending compared to the
spending forecasts, the MA, at the half of the implementation period, is entitled to decommit
the project by reducing the original project budget and the corresponding ERDF
contribution.
Infrastructure and works:

Under this budget line, only the costs for mandatory certificates/permits in order to comply
with the rules of the present Call will be accepted (e.g. urban planning certificate).
Only in case of road infrastructure, under Ip 6/c, the costs of purchase/expropriations may
be included in the budget up to 5% of the ERDF estimated costs for the relevant investment
object.
Please note that the market price of a property (land), in case of road construction, will be
established exclusively by a professional certificated evaluator. This will be a condition for
the eligibility of the acquisition related costs!
30
CHAPTER 3. HOW TO APPLY
Applications must be submitted through the electronic monitoring system - eMS.

The eMS system can be accessed on the following link: https: http://ems-
rohu.mdrap.ro/app/main?execution=e1s1
3.1 Process overview
As there are two or more partners cooperating in a project, one of them shall be designated
as the Lead. The Lead Applicant/Beneficiary 13 shall be established in one of the two
participating countries to the programme.
Moreover, all applicants should dispose of the knowledge, resources and capacity to fulfil
their designated tasks. The applicants must state their financial and administrative capacity
to manage their share of the project.
The same applicants will need to sign the partnership agreement before the Lead will be in
the position of signing the subsidy contract with the MA.
How to complete the Application Form is detailed in Annex IV:eMS - Application
Instructions
Make sure you fill-in by computer, correctly and completely, the Application and its
Annexes and attach all related documents. The Annexes are part of the Project Application.
Applications and Annexes must be submitted using the standard templates included in the
Applicants Guide (pay particular attention to observing the limit of characters imposed in
the template of Application Form; character includes space).
Modifying the standard templates of the Project Application or its Annexes will
result in the rejection of your Application!
The Application and its annexes must be filled in using English. The supporting documents
issued by national/local authorities or other bodies shall be attached in the original language
accompanied by a translation in English (translations provided by certified translators
are required). Translations provided by certified translators are required only for
documents relevant for quality assessment, where required (See 3.2 List of mandatory
Annexes to the Application Form).
Where the format of the Annexes requires, they should be signed and stamped by the legal
representative of the Lead Applicant or of the Applicant to which the Annex refers (in case
of Annexes which should be annexed for each Applicant) or by an empowered person (a
letter of empowerment will be attached) wherever this is requested by the standard
templates.
The Application will be submitted online, in the eMS system. The applicants prepare the
original of the Application dossier, with all the supporting documents and with the relevant
13
The tasks of the Lead Applicant/Beneficiary are provided in article 13 of the REGULATION (EU) No 1299/2013
of the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 17 December 2013
31
documents signed by the legal representatives. The Application will be filled-in online, than
printed, signed and stamped and will have attached all the documents from the original
dossier (held at the Lead Applicant premises). The whole package will be scanned and
uploaded into the eMS system. Depending on the size of the documentation, it is
recommended to create as many scanned files as necessary. A file cannot exceed 50 MB.
The original scanned version of the application, signed and stamped, along with all annexes
will prevail, in case any technical error occurs. All documents will be page numbered
continuously and a table of content14 will be attached, clearly indicating the page number
and the number of pages of each document.
Before the submission of the Project Application, the Lead Applicant will need to click on
Check Saved Project to activate the automatic checks. If any issues are found, such as
missing or wrong data, the Lead Applicant will need to correct this before saving and
checking it again. Only after all checks are okay, the Lead Applicant will be able to
submit the application by clicking the Submit checked project button.
Note. If a field is mandatory to fill in, it is enough to place a character in the field and the
eMS system will consider it as completed. The Applicant is solely responsible for the quality /
accuracy of data entered into the fields of the eMS system.
After submission, the Lead Applicant will receive an automatic e-mail confirmation. Once
submitted, you are not able to make further changes to your application.
Application can only be submitted until <24th April 2017>, 16:00 hours Bucharest
time (EET). Please take time zone differences into account!
After submitting the Application, the Lead Applicant will see the project status in the column
Project state of the table List Of Projects as Subm = Submitted.
Now the application will enter in the assessment phase (Administrative and Eligibility check)
by the Assessment Working Group, while the Lead Applicant can check the status of the
application in the eMS (My projects section) and answer to the clarifications send by the
members of the Assessment Working Group.
Please note that the clarifications will be send officially using the email section of the eMS as
an attached letter of clarification and the Lead Applicant will respond only through email
from eMS. Errata, amendments to the Application package which will be sent after the
deadline without being explicitly requested shall not be considered.
We strongly advise you to keep an eye on your eMS email in order to be able to
respond to any clarifications may be requested during the assessment phase!
Also, please keep in mind that the notification of either rejection or approval of
your application will be send via eMS e-mail system.
After the deadline, the applicant cannot create an application nor can send an application
previously created. In such a case, the error message Submission after deadline will
14
A template is provided as Annex V.9.
32
be sent by the eMS system. Consequently, the application will not be registered as
submitted into the system and it shall not enter into the assessment and selection process.
For any problems you might experience with the eMS, please contact the Joint Secretariat
at: joint.secretariat@brecoradea.ro, or by telephone at +40 259 473 174 or +40 359 436
529 during office hours: 9:00 to 17:00.
If you have any questions regarding the rules of this Call, we strongly recommend
you to send your questions up to 21 working days before the deadline, to the
following e-mail address: joint.secretariat@brecoradea.ro
Any other questions submitted after this interval may not receive an answer / in due time,
considering the necessary time for processing.
Final answers shall be released (published) not later than 11 working days before the
submission deadline.
The Joint Secretariat organizes the assessment and selection process, in compliance with
the criteria and methodology approved by the Monitoring Committee.
3.2 List of mandatory Annexes to the Application Form
No. Mandatory information/documents for submitting an eligible application

1 Partnership declaration signed and stamped by all involved parties/entities
(see Annex V.1). Please note this document will not be the subject of
completion.
To be provided in EN language.
2 PROJECT (LEAD) APPLICANT DECLARATION 15 (see Annex V.2). Please
note this document will not be the subject of completion.
3 Copy of the establishing documents of the Applicants: Articles of Association,
Statutes, Deed of foundation, establishing resolution law or equivalent documents
according to the national legislation, etc.
15
The Project (Lead) Applicant Declaration will be submitted by each of the applicants and it will cover the
following facts:
- Reality of the data provided within the application
- Applicants do not fall into any of the categories for which shall be excluded from participation in calls for
proposals, according to EU Financial Regulation 966/2012. The document will be provided by all
partners, signed and stamped.
- Applicants commit themselves and the activities.
- Conformity regarding the double financing of the operations;
- Applicant(s) VAT status;
- Possible generated revenues;
- Partners contribution to the project budget;
- Public funds have not been received in the previous 5 years before the submission deadline for the
same projects in terms of objectives, activities and results.
- Compliance with the obligation on ensuring project sustainability and its operation for at least 5 years
after the financial closure of the project;
- Compliance with the horizontal principles and contribution to the objectives of the EUSDR.
33
Exception: public institutions/authorities/ do NOT need to submit this document!
Additionally, establishing documents will be provided for the related branch / field
office, etc., that will prove its existence and the relation with the headquarter.
With regard to Churches in Hungary: In case the religious organization is listed in
the register kept by the Minister of Human Capacities
(http://egyhaz.emmi.gov.hu/), the extract issued by the Minister must be
attached. In case the Church is not listed in the register, official confirmation
issued by the Main Church must be attached.
To be provided in RO / HU language.
4 The official statement of the relevant decision-making body regarding the
support of the project and the availability of the own contribution for the planned
investment, during the implementation of the project (e.g. County Council
Decision, Local Council Decision, Board of Directors Decision, authorised
person etc.); the document will have to be issued after the official launch of the
Call for proposal 16 . This requirement does not affect the eligibility of the
preparation costs.
5 In case of Romanian applicants:
Justifying document stating the method of representation (according to the
national legislation)
In case of Hungarian applicants:
Original specimen of signature containing the method of representation of the
legally authorized representative(s) of the applicant organizations/institutions
certified by a public notary in the original language, where the case. Please note
this document will not be the subject of completion.
6 Letter of empowerment:
For RO applicants: signed and stamped by the legal representative of the
applicant institution
For HU applicants:
Certified by a public notary in original language, if the case.
Please note this document will not be the subject of completion.
7 The job descriptions for all positions included in the proposed management
team AND/OR the Terms of references, in case the management is
externalized.
8 In case of Romanian applicants:
Urban planning certificate (certificat de urbanism).
In case of Hungarian applicants:
Preliminary declaration of construction works according to the template
provided in Annex V.5, signed by a certified architect.
16 Except the ones for preparation costs.
34
9 RO applicants: Template MMP, signed/stamped by Environmental Protection
Agency at county level according to Ministry of Environment and Forests
Ordinance 3427/201217, requested based on GO 445/2009 in reference to public
and private projects impact evaluation on the environment (Annex V.8)
To be provided in RO language.
10 Other relevant studies/surveys, not older than one year (evaluations,
strategies, design plans, opportunity studies, impact assessment, location studies,
etc.), if there are available. Multiyear documents, adopted as such will also be
considered!
11 Title Deed18 (extras de carte funciar / tulajdoni lap msolat) issued by the Land
Registry, not older than 30 calendar days, of each real estate (land and/or
building) affected by the investment.
In case the land and / or building is in concession/administration, it must be
proved that the duration of the concession/administration of the land and/or
building is based on a long term contract/enactment (i.e. min. 5 years after
the estimated month for the financial closure of the project) and that the
owner of the real estate has given his written agreement that the applicant
is free to perform the investment.
12 Declaration from the land and/or building/ item of infrastructure owner
and from the concessioner/administrator stating that the land and / or
building / item of infrastructure is free of any encumbrances, not the object of a
pending litigation, not the object of a claim according to the relevant national
legislation.
17
Formular referat emis de Ministerul Mediului i Pdurilor, conform Ordinului Ministerului i Pdurilor 3427/2012
18
Exceptions are considered Title Deeds for road construction where purchase / expropriation is necessary, in
case they are not yet available due to non-completion of the purchase / expropriation procedures. However, the
applicants will have to provide the Title Deed in maximum 3 months after the notification of approval of
Application, or otherwise be excluded.
35
13 In case the road infrastructure involves purchase / expropriations:
For RO applicants:
Government/county/local council Decision approving the start of the purchase /
expropriation procedure and the approval of the technical and economic indicators
for the respective investment.
For HU applicants:
If available, the Building Permit, issued based on the Feasibility Study and the
Technical Documentation OR the proof that the process of obtaining the building
permit has started, issued by the competent authority.
14 Affidavit regarding the acquisition (purchase/expropriation) process, in case the
road infrastructure involves expropriations (see Annex V.7).
The document will state:
- that the respective applicant understands his/her obligation to complete the
expropriation process and to submit the Title Deed in maximum 3 months after
the notification of approval for financing, ensuring they understand the
consequences in case they fail;
- that the maximum expenditure budgeted for expropriations will be no more than
5% of the ERDF estimated costs for the investment objective.
15 Copy of the bilateral agreement with the commitment of the Member States to
set up Schengen-compatible border-crossing checkpoints (or other existing
solutions according to the legislation in force at the time of submission of the
project proposals) at the completion of any such projects, and to operate it for at
least 5 years or until the enlargement of the Schengen zone, for projects that
include cross-border road infrastructure
To be provided in RO/HU/EN language.
16 Copy of the bilateral agreement, in case of CB infrastructure, for projects
financing CB infrastructure other than roads; the bilateral agreement have to be in
force at the time of submission of project proposals.
To be provided in RO/HU/EN language.
17 Environmental indicators (see Annex V.6)
36
In order to support your project proposal, the Programme recommends you, also submit the
following supporting documents to the Application Form, if there are available: Feasibility
study (see Annex V.3 for HU applicants) 19 / Documentation for approval of
intervention works (see Annex V.4 for HU applicants) 20 according to the mandatory
format, including geotechnical, geological, hydrological, hydro geotechnical, photometric and
stability surveys concerning the investment location, where relevant, according to the
national legislation. The Feasibility Study/Documentation for approval of intervention works
or its revised version is valid according to the national legislation (the document must bear
the date of elaboration / revision) and should be accompanied by the legal agreements and
approvals (e.g. Local/County Council Decision, proof of the reception of the service, etc.).
Please be advise that English translation is compulsory.
19
Shall be submitted for new investment objectives. The template is provided by RO legislation. The attached
version is an unofficial translation and it is subject to modification depending on legislative changes
20
Shall be submitted for intervention at already existing investment objectives. The template is subject to
modification depending on legislative changes
37
CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT AND SELECTION OF APPLICATIONS21
This is the description of the assessment and selection process. The present Open Call is
launched to select the best project proposals, demonstrating considerable contribution
to the programmes output indicators. Under these terms, projects are expected
to prove that their estimated results are well correlated with the estimated
budgets!
E.g. A project with a total estimated budget covering 20% of the axis but only
contributing with 10% of the output indicators of the axis shall not be
recommended for financing!
Project proposals will be submitted via the eMS electronic system, by the given deadline. All
project proposals submitted under these conditions will be assessed and eventually selected
according to the assessment criteria previously approved by the Monitoring Committee.
The assessment and selection process within the Interreg V-A Romania-Hungary Programme
will be carried out with regard to:
a) Transparency
b) Equal of treatment
c) Non-discrimination
d) National integrity
e) Sustainable development
The assessment and selection procedure promotes the fulfilment of these principles and
excludes any opposite behaviour or action.
4.1 ASSESSMENT OF THE PROJECT PROPOSALS
The assessment of project proposals will be carried out in two phases:

First phase, implying administrative compliance and eligibility check22, carried out by
internal assessors from the Joint Secretariat and Info Points.
The purpose of the eligibility and administrative assessments is to:
Verify that the proposal fulfils minimum requirements of the Programme;
Avoid further assessment of ineligible project proposals;
Ensure equal treatment of all proposals to be selected for funding.
We draw your attention that, in compliance with the set eligibility criteria, the following
documents shall be submitted with the Application form, by the given deadline. If any of the
following is not submitted, the application will be subject for rejection:
- Partnership Declaration (see Annex V.1);

- Project (Lead) Applicant Declaration (see Annex V.2;
21
The assessment period may last up to 4 months after given deadline. Applicants shall take into account when
planning project events, as no project can be scheduled to start before its prospective approval.
22
The assessment grid for the administrative assessment is presented in ANNEX VI.1- Grid for Administrative and
eligibility check.
38
- Original specimen of signature containing the method of representation of the
legally authorized representative(s) of the applicant organizations/institutions
certified by a public notary in original language;
- Letter of empowerment, certified by a public notary in original language, if the
case.
Failure to comply with the formal requirements (administrative compliance) and established
eligibility criteria will lead to the rejection of the project proposal; thus, the Project Proposal
that did not fulfil the formal requirements and eligibility criteria shall not be passed on to
the quality assessment.
Clarifications and/or completions will be requested by the JS within the administrative and
eligibility check in a single round. The requests will be addressed in writing to the Lead
Applicant, who will have 7 working days to submit the necessary documents/clarifications.
Whereas the deadline is not met, or the documents/clarifications submitted are not
satisfactory, or prove incompliance with the formal and eligibility requirements, option NO
should be ticked and the project proposal deemed to be rejected.
The clarifications provided in the assessment phase cannot bring new elements
that would alter the initial content of the Application Form.
Exceptionally, In case the proposal is not fully compliant, in the case of the costs limitations
(criteria B11B17), the project proposal will be passed for quality assessment under the
condition that the necessary budget-cuts will be made in the quality assessment phase.
Second phase is the quality assessment23, carried out by external assessors contracted by
the MA.
Regarding the quality assessment, each application will be scored against technical and
financial assessment criteria and given a maximum score of 100 points.
The purpose of the quality assessment is to provide the MC members with sufficient
information on how each of the project proposals complies with the quality assessment
criteria.
The table below reflects an example of how to calculate the proportionality between the
estimated project budget and the contribution to the programs output indicators. The scope
of the example is to clarify the criterion A.7.-Quality assessment grid (Is there
proportionality between the estimated costs of the project and the output indicators fulfilled
through its implementation versus total allocated budget and estimated output indicators
per Investment Priority?). The presented scenario is for a project submitted under Ip 6/b.
Project 1 Project 2
A. Total funds allocated for Ip
(Euro) 7,000,000 7,000,000
B. Number of measurement points
positively affected by the
14 14
interventions (after the completion
23
See Annex VI.2- Quality assessment grid
39
of the project)
C. Unit cost (Euro/indicator). Please
see the Annex I. Fact-sheets 500,000 500,000
D. Total project budget (Euro) 1,500,000.00 2,000,000.00
E. Number of measurement points

positively affected by the 3 3
interventions (after the completion
of the project) / project
F. Total project budget / total funds
allocated for Ip (D/A %) 21.42% 28.57%
G. Project indicator (estimated
participants) / total indicator for Ip
(E/B) 21.42% 21.42%
H. Proportionality between the

estimated costs of the operation
and the output indicators (G/F) 100.% 75%
I. Numerical assessment (points) 10 points 6 points
Quality assessment criteria are divided into two categories:

1. Relevance assessment criteria - The main aim is to determine the extent of the
project's contribution to the achievement of programme objectives (contribution to
programme results), by addressing joint or common target group needs.
2. Operational assessment criteria - The main aim is to assess the viability and the
feasibility of the proposed project, as well as its value for money in terms of resources
used versus results delivered.
For the selection of projects under Ip 6/b the following principles will also be taken into
account:
Increased use of sustainable procurement (green public procurement).
Consideration of life cycle costs of investment options for long term perspective.
Usage of green infrastructure.
Projects implementing positive specific measures to clearly promote horizontal
themes24 will receive higher points during assessment!
If certain information is not very clear, supplementary clarifications, but not completions,
will be requested only once during the quality assessment. The Lead Applicant is invited to
submit this information within a deadline of maximum 5 working days.
In case the Lead Applicant does not provide the supplementary clarification within the
24
Accomplishing the minimum requirements of law in the fields of promotion of equal opportunities and non-
discrimination, equality between men and women, social inclusion of disadvantaged groups and sustainable
development is mandatory and will not be extra scored.
40
deadline as required, the Application will be assessed based on the initial information.
Only projects with a score of at least 65 points (out of a total of 100) will be
proposed for approval. Also, the minimum threshold for the strategical
assessment criteria will be 30 points (out of a total of maximum 45 points).
The projects are ranked in descending order, taking into account the:
scores awarded
their contribution to the programmes indicators (output and result)
the amount allocated for each Ip
In case two or more projects obtain equal scores under the same Ip, the selection of the
project to be financed shall be made taking into account the following criteria, in the
mentioned order:
a. the scores obtained for the strategic criteria in the quality assessment phase;
b. the scores obtained for criterion referring to the projects contribution to the
programmes outputs indicators;
4.2 SELECTION OF APPLICATIONS
The final list of project proposals25, selected to be supported for financing, is approved by
the Monitoring Committee. The decision of the MC is communicated, in writing, by the JS to
the Lead Applicant.
The Monitoring Committee will approve the list of all the assessed Project Proposals, in a
descending order according to the scores that have been granted, as well as the list of
rejected projects, and possible reserves, per Ip.
The projects proposed for financing are those projects which have obtained the minimum
score (65 points) in the quality assessment per total and minimum 30 points (out of 45) for
the strategic criteria, and whose budgets contain eligible expenses which do not exceed the
limit set forth for the present Call.
If, for any reason, a selected project shall not be contracted, the next one from the reserve
list for the respective Ip shall be mobilised.
The reserve list contains applications which have obtained the minimum total score of 65
points (out of 100) per total and minimum 30 points (out of 45) for the strategic criteria, but
due to limited available budget of the Call, cannot be proposed for financing.
In the situation the reserve also fails for contracting purposes, or there is no alternative
under the reserve list, the amount shall be automatically transferred to the next Open Call.
The projects which have scored less than 65 points are considered rejected.
Nonetheless, for the entire assessment and selection process, all applicants need
At the proposal of the Joint Secretariat and Managing Authority, the Monitoring Committee should decide to
25
create a reserve list . Any project that has reached the minimum thresholds mentioned above is included on the
reserve list.
41
to consider that:
Any attempt to obtain confidential information or to influence the Programme
structures and assessors within the assessment and selection process will lead to
disqualification!
You will be excluded in case it is proven that you are guilty of serious misleading
of the assessors by providing false information, that are being taken into
consideration in the assessment process or if you did not inform the evaluators
on issues that would have led to a different decision of the assessors.
The list of projects proposed for financing shall be approved at the first meeting of the
Monitoring Committee, organized following the completion of the assessment process.
Within maximum 3 working days after the decision of the MC, the JS will send online
notification letters to all the Lead Applicants who have submitted project proposals which
were analysed within the respective assessment session and were successful. For applicants
whose proposals were put on reserve list or rejected, the deadline for communication is 5
working days from the MC decision.
The decision of the Monitoring Committee is followed by the pre-contractual phase and
further MA and JS shall begin the contracting process, in order to conclude the contracts.
As a general rule, during the contracting stage the JS shall ensure all communication with
beneficiaries in view of gathering all necessary supporting documents.
Since the focus during the 2014-2020 period is on the results, please note that if
the analysis during the selection process indicates that the programmes
indicators (in theory, by contracting) are tackled in a percentage of at least
110%, so that the indicators from the Performance framework are secured
(including the financial ones), the Monitoring Committee may decide to stop
contracting although the financial allocation was not entirely reached.
Whereas there are firm recommendations of the external assessors impacting / conditioning
the approval and contracting of an Application, the respective project may be put forth for
approval by the MC under conditions. The MC decision shall also stipulate the deadline
when conditions must be met, and this shall not exceed 3 months. Contracting of such
project may occur only when these conditions are fully satisfied.
Over-contracting:
Following the evaluation and selection process, the list of projects proposed for financing,
per Ips, shall be submitted for approval by the Monitoring Committee. Projects that comply
with all requirements of the call, and obtain at least the minimum scores, but cannot be
financed due to lack of available financial allocation, are to be put forth for the Monitoring
Committee approval under a reserve list. These projects are prioritized according to their
ranking, just as the ones that fit into the available financial allocation and are listed on the
core list of projects selected for financing in the first place.
After the approval of the reserve list, whereas financial allocation is made available, the first
projects on the reserve list, per each Ip, are invited to enter the contracting phase. In case
42
the Programme exceeds the 100% absorption, or the maximum absorption level in case of a
decommitment, the Lead Beneficiary and its project partners commit to support from their
own budgets the funds necessary for the implementation of the project, according to the
provisions of the Subsidy Contract, the Application Form approved by the Monitoring
Committee and its annexes, the present Agreement, the Project Implementation Manual and
the national and European legislation in force. If such situation occurs, the MA has the right
to request the LB to repay the amounts reimbursed to him under the over-contracting
subsidy contract.
4.3 COMPLAINTS
In accordance with Art 74(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 Member States shall ensure
that effective arrangements for the examination of complaints concerning the ESIF are in
place.
The procedure established will cover complaints against decisions taken by the Programme
during the project assessment and selection process, with the purpose of effectively
examining complaints.
The decision of the MC not to finance applications can be appealed by the applicants, by
sending the notifications to the MA. Only the projects Lead Applicant as the one
representing the project partnership affected by the funding decision is entitled to file a
complaint. It is therefore the task of the Lead Applicant to collect and bring forward the
complaint reasons from all project partners.
The complaint must be submitted by the Lead Applicant in no more than 10 working days
from the date of receiving the rejection letter sent by the JS. Any complaint received later
than 10 working days will not be taken into consideration.
The complaints shall be formulated in respect to the provisions of the procedure presented
below. The template of the complaint is attached to this Guide (please see the Annex IX.3).
The complaint should be lodged in writing by e-mail, mail or fax to the MA, and may only be
lodged against the following criteria:
The outcomes of the quality assessment of the project proposal do not correspond
to the information provided by the Lead Applicant;
The project assessment and selection process failed to comply with specific
procedures laid down.
The complaint shall include:
a. name and address of the Lead Applicant;
b. reference number of the project proposal which is a subject of the complaint;
c. clearly indicated reasons and justification for the complaint, including listing of all
elements of the assessment which are being complaint and/or failures in
adherence with procedures limited to those criteria mentioned above;
43
d. signature of the legal representative of the Lead Applicant;
e. any supporting documents;
the relevant documentation shall be provided for the sole purpose of

supporting the complaint and may not alter the quality or content of the
assessed project proposal.
No other grounds for the complaint than indicated above will be taken into account during
the complaint procedure.
A complaint will be rejected without further examination if submitted after the deadline set
above or if the formal requirements are not observed. Should the complaint be rejected for
this reason, the MA conveys this information within 5 working days to the Lead Applicant.
Within maximum 10 working days after the receipt of the complaint the MA confirms to the
Lead Applicant in writing that the complaint was received. The complaint will be then
examined by the MA, assisted by the JS, on the basis of the information brought forward by
the Lead Applicant in the complaint, and technical examination will be performed regarding
the merit of complaint. Afterwards, the complaint is forwarded to the Complaint Panel to be
convened for this purpose by the head of MA.
The members of the Complaint Panel are nominated by the MA, ensuring impartiality of
members of the Complaint Panel towards the case under review. Meetings of the Complaint
Panel are assembled by the Head of the MA, and the panel examines the complaint based
on:
the complaint, with the technical examination by the MA;
the original project proposal and all supporting documents;
all documents relating to the assessment of the project proposal;
any other document requested by the Members of the Complaint Panel relevant to
the complaint. The relevant documentation shall be provided for the sole
purpose of supporting the complaint and may not alter the quality or
content of the assessed project proposal.
The MA and the JS are invited to the meeting to present the position of the technical
examination and the Lead Applicant may also be invited for a hearing.
The decision if the complaint is justified or needs to be rejected is taken by the Complaint
Panel, desirably by consensus. However, if consensus cannot be reached, the decision shall
be deemed adopted if at least 2/3 of the members present at the meeting agree with it.
If the complaint proves to be justified, the case will be sent back to the Monitoring
Committee to review the project application and its assessment. The MA communicates the
decision of the Complaint Panel to the Lead Applicant within 10 working days.
The decision of the Complaint Panel is final, binding to all parties and not subject to any
further complaint proceedings within the Programme based on the same grounds and in the
same phase of the procedure.
The complaint procedure - from the receipt of the complaint by the MA until the
44
communication of the Complaint Panels decision to the Lead Applicant - should be resolved
within maximum 90 calendar days.
Any attempt to obtain confidential information or to influence the Programme
structures and/or the members of the Complaint Panel within the review process
will lead to your disqualification!
The clarifications provided in the review phase cannot bring new elements that
would alter the initial content of the Application Form.
You will be excluded in case it is proven that you are guilty of serious misleading
of the Assessment Working Group / Complaint Panel by providing false
information, that are being taken into consideration in the assessment and
selection / review process or if you did not inform the Assessment Working
Group / Complaint Panel on issues that would have led to a different decision
related to your Application(s).
45
CHAPTER 5. CONTRACTING
5.1 Pre-Contractual conditions
The process of projects assessment and selection ends with the Monitoring Committees
decision regarding the selected / rejected projects 26 . Following the issuance of the said
decision, the MA and JS shall begin the contracting process.
As a general rule, during the contracting stage the JS shall ensure all communication with
beneficiaries in view of gathering all necessary supporting documents and provide all the
support to them in order to perform this task. The JS shall make sure that all the documents
received from the beneficiaries comply with the requirements of the GfA, before submitting
it to the MA.
Within 3 working days from the issuance of the decision of the MC for the selected projects,
the JS will notify the beneficiaries upon the selection of their projects. For the beneficiaries
whose projects have been rejected, the term for sending the notification will be of
maximum 5 working days. At the same time, JS shall update in the eMS the status of the
projects.
Following the decision of the MC regarding the selected projects, JS shall perform on site
visits to all Lead Beneficiaries and the selected project partners for the purpose of
establishing the coherence of the Application Form with the actual state of fact at
beneficiarys premises and in order to prevent contracting errors or frauds. On-site visits
shall be performed to:
all Lead Beneficiaries and, as the case may be, to the project beneficiaries, based
on a risk analysis, and
to all Beneficiaries, regardless their quality within the project, having investment
activities and expenses.
During the pre-contracting stage, respectively the preparation phase of the on-site visits,
recommendations of the Assessment Working Group shall be introduced, and the JS shall
request a declaration regarding the beneficiaries acceptance that JS could operate
budgetary adjustments, e.g. recommendations of the Assessment Working Group regarding
the project, budget cuts, correction of arithmetical errors etc., if applicable, as well as
additional contracting documentation, according to the relevant procedure. The beneficiaries
shall upload into eMS the documents requested by the JS. During the on-site visits, the JS
shall verify the conformity of uploaded documents with the original-ones.
Whereas a project has been put forth for approval by the MC under conditions, whilst the
MC decision shall also stipulate the deadline when conditions must be met (not exceeding 3
months from the JS notification), pre-contracting of such project shall also imply verification
of whether these conditions are fully satisfied, in the said deadline.
In order to satisfy itself of the sound management of the contracting process, at any stage
the MA may request additional documents from the beneficiary. The JS must ensure that
the documents are submitted to the MA in due time according to specific MA requirements.
26
Including projects on reserve list.
46
The subsidy contract models 27 annexed to this Guide is only indicative; the final
version of all contracts will be presented to the beneficiaries of the selected projects
in the contractual phase.
5.2 Contracting
The JS shall prepare and submit to the MA the subsidy contracts and the co-financing
contracts for the Romanian Beneficiaries, within 15 working days after the date of the on-
site visit.
The subsidy contracts will be signed by the MA and by the Lead Beneficiaries. Following the
signature of the subsidy contracts by the MAs representative, the subsidy contracts will be
sent to JS, in order to be signed by Lead Beneficiaries.
After the subsidy contracts have been signed by both parties, the Romanian beneficiaries
will be able to sign the co-financing contracts with MRDPA. For Hungarian beneficiaries, on
behalf of the Prime Ministers office, the PMO / SZPO will sign co-financing contract.
After the signature of the subsidy contracts by both parties:
an original copy and the annexes thereto shall be given to the Lead Beneficiary,
based on delivery and receiving protocol / cover letter.
an original copy, with MA internal endorsements, and the annexes thereto shall be
sent to MA, after the signature of the contract by the Beneficiary / JS receives the
signed contract from the Beneficiary.
an original copy remains at the JS, who also has the obligation to archive all
contracting documentation.
5.3 Over-Contracting
Following the MC approval of the list of selected projects and based on the final decision on
the over-contracted amounts taken at MS level the projects to be over-contracted shall be
selected. In 5 working days after the selection of such projects, the JS shall further notify
the Lead Beneficiaries, about the decision and invite them to sign specific financing
contracts (Annex VIII.2).
The signing of specific financing contracts shall follow the contracting procedure.
In case a Lead Beneficiary does not agree to enter a subsidy contract under over-
contracting conditions, it shall notify the JS, in maximum 3 working days, on its refusal. The
JS shall address the invitation to the next project on the approved reserve list, for the
relevant Ip.
The Beneficiaries shall bear the financial responsibility of over-contracting. In case the ERDF
funds are insufficient at Programme level, the Lead Beneficiary and its partners commit to
support from their own budget the funds necessary for the implementation of the project,
according to the approved Application Form and observing the provisions of the specific
subsidy contract, its annexes and the European and national legislation in force. In case of
insufficient ERDF funds at Programme level, the MA has the right to request the Lead
27
See Annex VIII
47
Beneficiary all or part of the funds already paid.
In case the MA cannot recover the debts resulted from over-contracting in accordance with
the provisions of the specific subsidy contracts, the relevant Member State shall reimburse
to the MA the respective amounts related to national beneficiaries.
NOTE: The Beneficiary will be at all times obliged to present for audit/control
purposes all files, documents and data about the project.
48
6. ANNEXES
I. FACT-SHEETS ON INVESTMENTS PRIORITIES AFFERENT TO THE PRESENT

CALL
1. Fact Sheet 1_6b

2. Fact Sheet 1_6c
3. Fact Sheet 5_5b
II. Programme Performance Framework and Environmental Indicators
III. Programme general rules on eligibility of expenditure (including General

Matrix of costs)
IV. eMS Application Instructions
V. APPLICATION Form and its standard annexes
Annex 0 Application Form
Annex 1 Partnership Declaration template
Annex 2 Project (Lead) Applicant Declaration
Annex 3 Feasibility Study template (where the case)
Annex 4 Documentation for Approval of Intervention Works template (where the

case)
Annex 5 Preliminary declaration of construction works
Annex 6 Environmental Indicators
Annex 7 Affidavit in case of land aqusition
Annex 8 Template MMP for RO applicants
Annex 9. Table of content
VI. Assessment grids
VII. Partnership Agreement indicative
VIII. Subsidy contract Indicative
IX. Other
1. List of abbreviations & Glossary of terms
2. Relevant regulatory framework
3. Complaint template
49

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INTERREG V-A ROMANIA-HUNGARY

OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Partnership for a better future

Please note that clarifications, errata, amendments/corrigenda may be published on the

The current guide applies to the preparation of projects to be submitted under

1.1 Overview of the programme

1.2 Programme strategy

In compliance with the EU regulatory requirements, a set of 6 Thematic Objectives (TO)

1.2.1 Priority Axes, Investment Priorities, and their Specific Objectives

Priority axis Investment priority Specific Objective

6/b Investing in the water sector to

9/a Investing in health and social

1.2.2 Programme indicators

Biodiversity, flora, fauna, NATURA

I2: Number of actions which have impact on

I3: Number of actions impacting the elimination of

R3: Number of people benefitting from flood

Tourist overnight stays in the eligible programme area

1.2.3 Horizontal Principles

During the elaboration of the project proposal, the principles of transparency,

However, accomplishing the minimum requirements of law in the fields of promotion of

1.3 Programme implementation structure

1.4 Financial Allocation for the Call for Proposals

PA 1 - Ip 6/b 7,000,000.00 1,235,294.00 8,235,294.00

PA 1 - Ip 6/c 7,500,000.00 1,323,529,00 8,823,529.00

PA 5 Ip 5/b 8,115,835.00 1,432,207.00 9,548,042.00

The above allocation is based on the followings:

1.5 Revenue Generating Projects

The EU Regulations applicable to 2014-2020 period do not provide for a definition of

Net-revenues are not eligible.

Eligible expenditure on revenue-generating projects shall not exceed the current

(a) investments in infrastructure; or

(b) other projects where it is possible to objectively estimate the revenues in

In the implementation phase, a monitoring of the generated revenues shall be done

2.1 Description of the Call

6/c Conserving, protecting, promoting and

5/b Promoting investments to address

The following scheme is a chronological demonstration of the main milestones:

Please see further details in the dedicated FACT-SHEETS, annexed to the

2.2 Conditions and criteria for selection of projects

2.2.1 General eligibility criteria

2.2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants

Established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general

c. State owned companies

e. European Groupings for Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) introduced by Regulation

To be established by legal persons governed by public or private law

8. The importance of the cross-border approach to the topic addressed should be

documents related to the registration of the land and/or building/ item

When the national legislation requires signature of bilateral agreement in case of

2.2.1.3 Eligibility of costs/expenditure

Hungary Programme are described in the Programme general rules on eligibility

NOTE: Procurements shall comply with national regulations applicable at the

as a general rule, the eligible expenditures shall be incurred related to

Infrastructure & works

Infrastructure and works:

Applications must be submitted through the electronic monitoring system - eMS.

3.1 Process overview

3.2 List of mandatory Annexes to the Application Form

No. Mandatory information/documents for submitting an eligible application

16 Except the ones for preparation costs.

4.1 ASSESSMENT OF THE PROJECT PROPOSALS

The assessment of project proposals will be carried out in two phases: